Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs offense set to rediscover explosiveness thanks to revived WR room
Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown are healthy, Xavier Worthy is a rising star and Travis Kelce is motivated
By
Jared Dubin
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4 min read
The Kansas City Chiefs' passing game had its struggles last season. Patrick Mahomes completed 67.5% of his passes, but he averaged a career-low 6.8 yards per attempt and tied a career low by throwing a touchdown on 4.5% of his passes. Mahomes finished "just" 10th in expected points added (EPA) per dropback at Tru Media after checking in first, third, second, third, first and ninth through the first six seasons of his NFL career.
Obviously, there were some extenuating circumstances involved. Marquise "Hollywood" Brown suffered a shoulder injury during the preseason that knocked him out until Week 16. Rashee Rice, who started his Year 2 season absolutely on fire with 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns through the first three games, tore his LCL in Week 4.
All of a sudden, what was supposed to be a stacked Chiefs wide receiver room now depended on a rookie -- Xavier Worthy -- as Mahomes' top receiving option. And a regular-season game plan that seemed like it was intended to manage Travis Kelce's workload instead turned into one where the vet had to again resume a top-billed role at 34 years old.
The Chiefs tried using a whole host of receiving options, including trading for DeAndre Hopkins and bringing back Mecole Hardman, shuffling the two of them, Worthy, Justin Watson and JuJu Smith-Schuster on and off the field, stretching for anything that could conceivably work.
Incredibly, they found a way to consistently move the ball despite having almost no explosive-play element to their passing attack. Mahomes dinked and dunked his way downfield and, as one of the timeliest runners in the league, added more scramble EPA than anyone in the league except for Josh Allen, according to Tru Media.
2025 season outlook
The hope is that things won't have to be quite so difficult in 2025. Worthy has a full year of experience under his belt and is now coming off a breakout stretch run and playoffs. Brown is back for another go-round after having to sit out for most of the year. The Chiefs drafted Jalen Royals, who was considered a potential Day 2 pick, in the fourth round. And most importantly, Rice is healthy and Kelce is back for (at least) one more season.
"He's [Rice] out there playing. He's making plays on the football field," Mahomes said Thursday. "He's explosive; he looks fast. You saw the start of last season. I think he can be one of the best receivers in the league."
It's hard to convey just how electric Rice looked during the early portion of last season. It legitimately looked like he might lead the league in receiving if things kept going the way they did.
If Rice is anywhere close to full strength, that is just a massive boost for the passing game. Rice is an elite weapon getting open in the slot, and he's dynamic with the ball in his hands. Taking some of that underneath work that Kelce has long monopolized and shifting it to a player who is more explosive at this stage of his career will make the passing attack more efficient, and it will allow the Chiefs to manage Kelce's workload during the regular season so that he doesn't combine for six catches for 58 scoreless yards in the team's final two playoff games like he did last year.
Having Rice playing alongside a pair of burners in Worthy and Brown will also make things look much different than they have in the recent past, which was kind of the idea last year. Worthy showed last season that he's more than just a deep threat, and Brown has always been more than merely that as well, but Kansas City desperately needs them each to access that part of their arsenal anyway.
While the Chiefs used to absolutely dominate in the downfield passing game, that element of their offense has all but disappeared over the last few seasons as teams have endeavored to take it away at all costs and try to turn Mahomes into a checkdown artist. It's to Mahomes' great credit that he's been able to consistently win that way anyway, but things get much easier once you start hitting some big plays down the field. Who wants to have to march down the field with 10-play drives all day if you don't have to?
Having so many other options should also make things easier for Kelce when he's on the field. And the way Mahomes is talking about him, it sounds like Kelce could be in for a better season than last year, when he averaged a career-low 6.2 yards per target, which was nearly 2 full yards lower than his previous nadir, set in 2023.
"If it's the last ride, you would never know," Mahomes said. "The way he's talking about football, the way he's talking about working and trying to be even better this year than he was last year. He doesn't seem like a guy that, it's his last ride or he's tired of the job. He's in here, he's working. I know his body feels good. I think it feels better than even last year before going into last season. I think he's motivated to go out there and have an even better year."
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Getting all the pieces working together in concert is obviously easier said than done. But Mahomes having all his weapons actually healthy and on the field together is going to be a nice change of pace, and if things congeal in the way they should, it's going to be a much different experience watching this offense than it was a year ago.
